Internet-Based Money Order System

ABSTRACT

A system and method for purchasing a money order via the internet including the steps of providing an internet based money order system capable of generating money orders upon the receipt of a purchase request by a prospective buyer via the internet for a predetermined amount of funds. The prospective buyer transmits information to the money order system, via the internet, which information is required to purchase the money order. The money order is then remotely generated by the money order system and is delivered to an intended recipient of the money order.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to an internet-based money order system,and more particularly, to an internet-based money order system which isimplemented in conjunction with financial transactions conducted via theinternet.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Auctions for sale of products have proven to be very popular and thesuccess of the systems involve two major features. Typically withauction systems, there is the possibility to obtain the product at avery competitive price. In addition, there is the excitement and skillof the buyer who participates in the auction process and makes fastdecisions whether to continue to participate or to recognize the pricehas become too high. The auction process, traditionally, has been arelatively fast process which changes quickly. The standard auctionprocess involves users bidding for a particular product, and the productis sold to the highest bidder.

The dynamic nature of the auction process, in its traditional form, isattractive to a certain number of participants, but it is also anobstacle to a further group of participants who do not wish to rushtheir decision process. For this reason, there are other variations ofthe auction process where the time period for the auction is much longerand the feedback of information tends to be slower. Some auctionprocesses do not provide any real time feedback, such as a silentauction process, where users merely submit their bid, which isconfidential.

A further variation of the auction process is a reverse auction wherethe price of the product decreases in a set manner during the timeperiod of the auction and each participant is provided with the currentprice, the quantity on hand and the time remaining in the auction. Thistype of auction, typically, takes place over a very short period of timeand there is a flurry of activity in the last portion of the auctionprocess. The actual auction terminates when there is no more product tobe sold or the time period expires.

The auction process for the sale of products has also been used oninternet with great success. In this case, the various users sendmessages to the auction site with details of their bid and identity.Details of the bid are posted on the auction site computer and areavailable to other participants. The auction process typically has atime period of several days or weeks, and the product is allocated tothe highest bidders.

However, one of the disadvantages of this system is the remittance ofpayment between the seller and awarded purchaser. For instance, sincethe seller is typically a private individual, the only way for theseller to securely obtain the funds for the sale is through a moneyorder sent from an awarded buyer. This is because it is not advisablefor a seller to rely on personal checks, and the seller typically doesnot have the resources available to process credit card transactions andother types of automatic debit transactions. Moreover, it is typicallyinconvenient for the awarded buyer to purchase a money order, since thisusually involves going to a bank, post office or financial store to doso, which mitigates the convenience of the internet transaction.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, the present invention is directed to a method and systemfor purchasing a money order from a money order system via the internetin response to goods being purchased from an internet-based auctiontransaction.

The method preferably includes first awarding a bid to a buyer for goodsto be purchased from a seller from an auction process conducted betweena buyer and seller, via the internet, on an internet auction site. Theawarded buyer then contacts the internet site for the money ordersystem, preferably via the internet, after the bid is awarded to thebuyer. The buyer then preferably transmits information to the moneyorder system, via the internet, in order to purchase the money orderrequired for the sale of the awarded goods. Such information preferablyincludes at least the buyers identification, an identification of theseller and a financial amount for the money order. After thisinformation is received by the money order system, a money order isgenerated by the money order system. This money order is then deliveredfrom the money order system to the seller to complete the sale of goodsbetween the buyer and seller. The seller may then ship the goods to thebuyer.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other objects and advantages of the present invention willbecome more readily apparent upon consideration of the followingdetailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawings, in which like reference characters refer to like partsthroughout the drawings and in which:

FIG. 1 is an overview of the money order system as implemented in theinternet;

FIG. 2 depicts the system components of the money order system of FIG.1; and

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of the steps taken by the money order system ofFIG. 1 to generate a money order via the internet.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 is an overview of the present invention system implementing theelectronic money order system, designated generally by 100, as used withan internet based auction system 10. It is to be appreciated, that suchauction sites are well known and thus will not be described in detail soas not to obscure the present invention of integrating the electronicmoney ordering system 100 with an auction site 10, via preferably theinternet 12.

With reference to FIG. 1, a host of users 14 are shown connected to theinternet 12. Also shown connected to the internet 12 is an auction site10, money order system 100 and billing server 16. Each user 14preferably has a computer terminal with the appropriate software foraccessing the internet 12. It is to be appreciated that a detaildescription of the internet auction site 12 is not provided as they arewell known in the art. See for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,890,138 toGordon et al., which is hereby incorporated by reference.

Referring now to FIG. 2, the money order system 100 is shown topreferably include a server 102, computer processor 106, money orderdispenser 108 and database 110. The server 102 connects the money ordersystem 100 to the internet 12. It is noted that the server 102 ispreferably connected to a firewall 104 so as to prevent any user fromaccessing any of the components behind the firewall 104. In this way,the users have access to the money order system server computers 102,but only have access to the database 110 through the firewall 104.

The database 110 preferably includes the user's information, if any, andthe money order dispensing apparatus 108 which is operative to generatemoney orders purchased via the internet 12. With returning reference toFIG. 1, the money order system 100 is shown to be preferably coupled toa billing server 16. The billing server 16 is operative to processcredit card transactions on behalf of the money order system 100, aswill be described further below. For example, when a user desires topurchase a money order from the money order system 100, the user may doso via a credit card, in which the user provides the necessaryinformation (e.g., credit card type, number, billing address, etc.) tothe money order system 100. The money order system 100 then transmitsthis credit card information to the billing server 16 which processesand authorizes the sale of the money order to the user. After which, thebilling server 16 transmits the authorized funds from the user's creditcard bank to the bank associated with the money order system, whichfinancial transactions are typically accomplished via an AutomatedClearing House (ACH) 20.

The server 102 of money order system 100 may also be preferablyconnected to a printing device 120, telephone 130, facsimile device 140and pager 150. As will be described further below, the server 102 iscoupled to any one of these devices in order to be able to sent messagesto both the sender and receiver of purchased money orders. For instance,after a sale is authorized, a message may be transmitted to the senderwho purchased the money order stating that the money order wasauthorized and is being shipped to the receiver. And, likewise a messagemay be transmitted to the receiver that a money order was authorized foridentified goods and is currently being shipped, which enables thereceiver (e.g., the seller) to ship the goods to the buyer even thoughit has not yet received the money order but knows it is going to receivethe money order since it has a message from a secure third party (i.e.,money order system 100) affirmatively stating that the money has beenauthorized is being sent to the receiver.

With the system components being described above, its method ofoperation will now be described in reference to the flowchart of FIG. 3.First, with a sale transaction between a buyer and seller beingconsummated (step 200), the buyer is to be obligated to financiallysatisfy the transaction with a money order that is to be purchased anddelivered to the seller.

In the preferred embodiment, this transaction is achieved via aninternet-based auction transaction in which the buyer was the awardedbidder for the goods listed by the seller on the auction site 10.However, such an internet auction transaction is not to be the only typeof financial transaction between buyer and seller for implementation ofthe money order system 100, but rather it may include any type oftransaction between buyer and seller, wherein the buyer is obligated todeliver a money order to the seller. In this regard, it may encompass aninternet-based merchant who is selling goods on the internet but doesnot have the capability to effect credit card transactions and thusrequires money orders for goods purchased.

Next, after the financial transaction is consummated between the buyerand seller (step 202), the buyer (e.g., user 14) contacts the moneyorder system 100, preferably via the internet 12 (step 204). In thisregard, the aforesaid internet contact is preferably accomplishedthrough the provision of a hyper-link to the money order system site100, which hyper-link is provided in the seller's web site. Forinstance, if it is an auction-based transaction, the auction sitepreferably provides a hyper-link on one of their web pages to web siteof the money order system 100. Preferably, this hyper-link is providedon the web page awarding the buyer the highest bid, thus all the awardedbuyer needs to do after being awarded the bid is to click on thehyper-link connecting to the money order system 100 so as to remotelypurchase a money order from the money order system 100, whichsubsequently transmits that money order to the seller without requiringthe buyer 14 from leaving a computer terminal.

Once the buyer has contacted the money order system 100, the buyer'srequest for a money order is then transmitted to the money order system100 (step 206). This request preferably includes the followinginformation: the name and address of both the buyer and seller;identification of the goods to be purchased; the buyer's credit cardinformation and any other miscellaneous information needed to completethe financial transaction between the buyer and seller (step 208).Alternatively, some, or all the later information may be automaticallytransmitted from the site from which the buyer accessed the money ordersystem 100, if so programmed. For example, when the buyer receives theweb page of the auction site 10 confirming the bid award, the buyer mayclick a hyper-link provided on this page which not only accesses themoney order system site 100, but also automatically transmits all theinformation necessary to purchase a money order with perhaps theexception of the buyer's credit card information.

In yet another alternative embodiment of the invention, a user mayestablish an account with the money order system 100. In thisembodiment, the user either credits or deposits a fund amount with themoney order system 100, which is preferably stored in the database 110of the money order system. Thus, when the user 14 desires to purchase amoney order, the user need not to transmit any credit card information,but rather the funds needed for the user's desired money order issubtracted from the user's account preferably stored in database 100.This arrangement is particularly advantageous for user's who have nocredit cards or desires to avoid their use.

Returning to the preferred embodiment, after the user 14 transmits theaforesaid necessary information to the money order system 100 (step208), this information is received by the money order system server 102(210) which then sends the information to a computer processor 106. Theprocessor 106 extrapolates the credit card information from the buyer'sinformation and preferably transmits it to the billing server 16. Thebilling server 16 processes this credit card information (step 212) soas to authorize the money order for the requested funds. The billingserver 16 then communicates with the money order system 100 to provideauthorization for the requested money order (step 214). Once the moneyorder system 100 receives the aforesaid authorization from the billingserver 102, processor 106 preferably instructs money order dispensingapparatus 108 to generate the requested money order (step 216). It is tobe understood that the money order dispensing apparatus may be eitherautomatic or manual. The money order, and any other pertinentinformation needed to ship the goods is sent to the buyer, preferablyvia the mail system (step 218).

The money order system 100 is also preferably configured to sent ane-mail message to both the buyer and seller notifying them that themoney order has been ordered, authorized and sent to the seller (step220). Thus, since this message is being sent by the secure third partyof the money order system 100, the buyer can trust this information andgo ahead and ship the goods to the buyer without yet receiving the moneyorder. Thus, one advantage of the system of the present invention isclearly evident in that as soon as a buyer desires to purchase goodsfrom a seller with a money order, the seller may immediately ship thegoods to the buyer (upon the aforesaid notification from the money ordersystem 100) without having to wait for the money order, which maytypically take up to five (5) days if transmitted by regular mail.

The billing server 16 then transmits the funds to the money order system100 that were debited from the buyer's credit card which were needed togenerate the purchased money orders preferably through an AutomatedClearing House (ACH) 20 (step 222). Of course the billing server mayretain a portion of these funds for their credit card services.

In summary, a money order system providing the purchase of money ordersvia the internet has been described. Although the present invention hasbeen described with emphasis on a particular embodiment, it should beunderstood that the figures are for illustration of the exemplaryembodiment of the invention and should not be taken as limitations orthought to be the only means of carrying out the invention. Further, itis contemplated that many changes and modifications may be made to theinvention without departing from the scope and spirit of the inventionas disclosed.

1. A method of purchasing a money order by a user via the Internet fordelivery to an intended recipient, wherein the money order is backed bya third party other than the user or the intended recipient, comprisingthe steps of: providing a money order system capable of generating moneyorders backed by a third party other than the user or the intendedrecipient; contacting the money order system with a computing device viathe Internet by the user desiring to purchase a money order in afinancial amount; transmitting information to the money order system viathe Internet that is required to purchase said money order, saidinformation including at least a user's identification, anidentification of the intended receiver of the money order and thefinancial amount for the money order; automatically printing a moneyorder backed by a third party with said money order system upon receiptof said transmitted information; and initiating physical delivery ofsaid money order from the money order system to said intended receiver.2. A method of purchasing a money order by the user via the Internet fordelivery to the intended recipient, wherein the money order is backed bya third party other than the user or the intended recipient as recitedin claim 1 further including the step of generating an e-mail message toat least one of said user or intended receiver of said money order thatsaid money order has been sent to said intended receiver.
 3. A method ofpurchasing a money order by the user via the Internet for delivery tothe intended recipient, wherein the money order is backed by a thirdparty other than the user or the intended recipient as recited in claim2 further including the steps of: transmitting credit card informationassociated with said user; and electronically processing said creditcard information to make available funds needed for said purchase ofsaid money order by said user.
 4. A method of purchasing a money orderby the user via the Internet for delivery to the intended recipient,wherein the money order is backed by a third party other than the useror the intended recipient as recited in claim 2 further including thesteps of: establishing a funds account on said users behalf in saidmoney order system, said funds account having a predetermined amount ofmonetary funds; electronically deducting a predetermined amount of fundsfrom said funds account in accordance with the amount of funds requiredto generate said users purchased money order.
 5. A method of purchasinga money order from a money order system via the Internet for thepurchase of goods purchased from an Internet-based auction transaction,wherein the money order is guaranteed by a third party other than aseller or a buyer in the auction transaction, the method including thesteps of: awarding a bid to a buyer for goods to be purchased from aseller from an auction process conducted between said buyer and sellervia the Internet on an Internet auction site; contacting an Internetsite for said money order system via the Internet by said buyer with acomputing device after said bid is awarded to said buyer by the Internetauction site; transmitting information to said money order system viathe Internet to purchase said money order for said sale of said goodswon during the auction process with the Internet auction site, saidinformation including at least said buyer's identification, anidentification of said seller and a financial amount for the moneyorder, wherein said financial amount is related to the bid; printing inan automated manner a money order that is backed by someone other thanthe buyer from said money order system upon receipt of said transmittedinformation from said buyer; initiating physical delivery from moneyorder system said generated money order to said seller; and initiatingphysical delivery of said goods from said seller to buyer after saidmoney order is printed.
 6. A method of purchasing the money order fromthe money order system via the Internet for the purchase of goodspurchased from an Internet-based auction transaction, wherein the moneyorder is guaranteed by a third party other than the seller or the buyerin the auction transaction as recited in claim 5 further including thestep of providing a hyper-link in the auction site to the money ordersystem site.
 7. A method of purchasing the money order from the moneyorder system via the Internet for the purchase of goods purchased froman Internet-based auction transaction, wherein the money order isguaranteed by a third party other than the seller or the buyer in theauction transaction as recited in claim 6 further including the step ofgenerating a message to at least one of said buyer or seller statingthat said money order has been sent to said seller.
 8. A method ofpurchasing the money order from the money order system via the Internetfor the purchase of goods purchased from an Internet-based auctiontransaction, wherein the money order is guaranteed by a third partyother than the seller or the buyer in the auction transaction as recitedin claim 7 further including the steps of: transmitting credit cardinformation associated with said buyer to said money order systemInternet site; and electronically processing said credit cardinformation to make available funds needed for said purchase of saidmoney order by said buyer in said money order system site.
 9. A methodof purchasing the money order from the money order system via theInternet for the purchase of goods purchased from an Internet-basedauction transaction, wherein the money order is guaranteed by a thirdparty other than the seller or the buyer in the auction transaction asrecited in claim 7 further including the steps of: establishing a fundsaccount on said buyers behalf in said money order system, said fundsaccount having a predetermined amount of monetary funds; electronicallydeducting a predetermined amount of funds from said funds account inaccordance with the amount of funds required to generate said moneyorder generated for the buyer.
 10. A method of purchasing the moneyorder from the money order system via the Internet for the purchase ofgoods purchased from an Internet-based auction transaction, wherein themoney order is guaranteed by a third party other than the seller or thebuyer in the auction transaction as recited in claim 7 further includingthe step of shipping the goods from said seller to buyer prior to saidsellers receipt of said money order and after said information istransmitted from said money order system to said seller indicating thatsaid money order is being delivered to said seller.
 11. A systemparticipating in an auction and paying with a money order that is backedby a third party, the system comprising: a server configured to conductan Internet-based auction via a web site, said server further configuredto cause to be displayed, via said web site, a money order requestselection selectable by a bidder that participated in an auctionconducted via said web site; and a money order sub-system that isaccessed via said web site upon selection by the bidder of said moneyorder request selection, said money order sub-system configured forprocessing a money order request, said processing comprising: requestingfunds for a money order transaction upon receipt of a money orderrequest; upon confirmation of receipt of the requested funds,instructing a money order dispensing apparatus to print a money orderthat is backed by someone other than the bidder; and confirming to thebidder that the money order request has been fulfilled with anautomatically-generated electronic message.
 12. A system participatingin an auction and paying with a money order that is backed by a thirdparty according to claim 11 wherein said money order sub-systemcomprises a money order server configured to communicate with saidauction server, and a processor, said money order server coupled to saidprocessor.
 13. A system participating in an auction and paying with amoney order that is backed by a third party according to claim 12wherein said processor is programmed to request funds for a money ordertransaction upon receipt of a money order request by transmitting creditcard information to a billing server.
 14. A system participating in anauction and paying with a money order that is backed by a third partyaccording to claim 12 wherein said money order server is furtherconfigured to communicate with a seller to confirm that a money orderhas been authorized.
 15. A system participating in an auction and payingwith a money order that is backed by a third party according to claim 12wherein said money order sub-system further comprises a database coupledto said processor, said database comprising data for submitting anelectronic funds transfer request and data for money orderauthorizations.
 16. A money order system for processing a money orderrequest, the money order system configured to communicate with a moneyorder dispensing apparatus, said money order system comprising: a serverfor receiving communications from and transmitting communications to amoney order requestor; a memory for storing information relating tomoney order transactions; a processor coupled to said server and to saidmemory, said processor programmed to: request funds for a money ordertransaction upon receipt of a money order request; upon confirmation ofreceipt of the requested funds, instruct the money order dispensingapparatus to generate a money order before the money order isautomatically sent to a recipient; and wherein the money order is backedby a third party other than the money order requestor or the recipient.17. A system according to claim 16 wherein said processor is furtherprogrammed to confirm to the requestor that the money order request hasbeen fulfilled.
 18. A system according to claim 16 wherein said memorycomprises a database, said database comprising data for submitting anelectronic funds transfer request and data for money orderauthorizations.
 19. A database, comprising: data for submitting anelectronic funds transfer request and based on a money order generationrequest from a requestor; data on a completed electronic funds transfer;data on delivery of a generated money order; data on authorization ofgeneration of a money order; and data on a confirmation, for therequestor, of the money order authorization.
 20. A method for purchasinga money order utilizing a money order system, wherein the money ordersystem is accessible online through a wide area network, said methodcomprising: submitting, to the money order system and via the wide areanetwork, a request for a money order, the request includingauthorization to debit a card account, wherein the submitting step isinitiated by a money order sender; receiving confirmation by a moneyorder sender, via the wide area network, that the money order requesthas been fulfilled; issuing a money order, wherein the money order isbacked by a third party other than the money order sender or arecipient; and causing delivery of the money order to the recipient. 21.A method for purchasing a money order utilizing a money order system,wherein the money order system is accessible online through a wide areanetwork according to claim 20 wherein submitting a request for a moneyorder comprises the steps of: selecting a money order request selectionon a web page; entering data requesting the money order includinginformation identifying an account to be debited; and authorizingdebiting the account.
 22. A method for generating a money order from amoney order dispensing apparatus, wherein the money order is backed by athird party, said method comprising: receiving, from a requester and viaa wide area network, a money order request; requesting an electronicfunds transfer upon receipt of the money order request, whereby theelectronic funds transfer is used to pay for a money order; instructingthe money order dispensing apparatus to generate the money order uponreceipt of the finds in response to the electronic finds transferrequest, wherein the money order is backed by someone other than therequestor; and initiating delivery of the money order after generationto a location associated with a recipient.
 23. A method for generating amoney order from a money order dispensing apparatus, wherein the moneyorder is backed by a third party according to claim 22 whereinrequesting an electronic funds transfer comprises transmitting creditcard information to a billing server.
 24. A method for generating amoney order from a money order dispensing apparatus, wherein the moneyorder is backed by a third party according to claim 22 furthercomprising the step of notifying a party that is to receive the moneyorder that the money order has been authorized.
 25. A method forgenerating a money order from a money order dispensing apparatus,wherein the money order is backed by a third party according to claim 22further comprising the step of transmitting the money order to a party.26. A method of purchasing a money order by the user via the Internetfor delivery to the intended recipient, wherein the money order isbacked by a third party other than the user or the intended recipient asrecited in claim 1, wherein the sending step is initiated by the moneyorder system.